


John Oliver has no horse in this race

by Emmuzka



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Coming Out, M/M, Pining, Sid just wants to be a good Captain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-14
Updated: 2015-08-14
Packaged: 2018-04-14 17:05:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4572633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emmuzka/pseuds/Emmuzka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil must have heard or understood wrong. "What? You took what?"</p><p>"I took the bonus. And the no-trade clause. For coming out."</p><p>"What the fuck? You aren't gay.” Phil paused. "Are you?"</p><p> <br/>In which John Oliver makes a piece about NHL being surveyed as the most gay friendly sport franchise, with conveniently not even one actual out gay person to feel all jovial and accepting about. Which makes the NHL want <i>anyone at all</i> to come out, at any price, right about now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	John Oliver has no horse in this race

“You know about the coming out movement?” 

It wasn’t uncommon for Phil and Bozie to not exchange pleasantries in the beginning of their phone calls. Neither of them had a habit of gossiping either, so Phil was left wondering about Bozie’s starting topic. 

“Yes?” Yes, Phil knew about it. Knew about freaking John Oliver and his piece about NHL being surveyed as the most gay friendly top sport franchise, with conveniently not even one actual out gay person to feel all jovial and accepting about. The contrast was admittedly jarring, but it wasn’t like any other pro sport was that much better. Too bad that the one segment in a comedy show had put the snowball rolling.

“Um. You know _you-know-who_ is gay?”

“Yeah?” Almost all of the core Leafs had known about Reimer. "No-one's going to out him, right? Someone does that, I'll kill them.”

“No, no. But apparently he had told about it to the management. For just in case or something.”

“And?” Surely the management hadn't outed him? They could be assholes, but not that much, and the people had been pretty much changed in the last six months altogether, anyway. 

“Apparently NHL wants someone to come out really fucking bad, and about immediately. I think that they want to end the speculation on if there really isn’t any in NHL, like there would be a class ceiling in even entering.”

“Not true, but continue.” It was kind of interesting, even when Phil still didn't know why Bozie wanted to talk about this.

“There is even a rumor going around that the scouting reports have secret code words on them, to not pick certain players.”

Bozie paused. “They offered him a bonus, and a no-trade clause on his contract for going public. And no sending him downwards to farm either. They were really adamant about it.”

“They pressured him?”

“I don’t know. But at least he didn’t think that he’d _have to_ do it, because nothing came out of it.”

“Okay. But why Maple Leafs?” 

“Maybe there really aren’t that many that they know of? If they’d just put a word out that they would be rewarding an outing now, it would have bled to the media. And I think that the Leafs just need something new to talk about." _Now that you're gone,_ went between them without saying.

"So I took it."

Phil must have heard or understood wrong. "What? You took what?"

"I took the bonus. And the no-trade clause. For coming out."

"What the fuck? You aren't gay.” Phil paused. "Are you?"

"Um. No, I'm not."

"Then what-"

"I could really use a non-trade clause, though."

"Oh." That, unfortunately, was true. Bozie had done pretty well as Phil's first line center, but as an individual, he just wasn't first line material. Or second. Or, fuck, even third. But still. "You promised to tell the world that you are gay and for that you won't get traded?"

"Or transferred to Marlies, either."

"But you'll be lying."

Now Bozie sounded sheepish. "Yeah. Kinda? Yeah."

Phil waited, silent.

"Well I _could_ be gay."

"Yeah, I don't really give a fuck, in one way or another. So you'll be coming fake out soon. Congrats on the non-trade and the bonus. I'm glad I'm not you."

"That's kind of the reason I called you? As a heads-up. You know it's going to be a shit storm."

"Okay?"

"I mean a shit storm for you."

"What do you...? Okay. I see it now.” Jesus Christ on a stick. Bozie was right. They had been good friends and roommates for years, without neither of them having had a girlfriend at the time. Bozie telling now that he was gay would turn the media attention back to them and back to Phil. 

"Sorry?" Bozie actually sounded sorry. Not so sorry that he'd be calling the thing off, though. "I won't talk about you or insinuate that we'd been together in any way. And of course I won’t ask you to say shit, but could you, like, not say that I’m a liar and full of shit or something?"

Phil sighed. "I don't think that that would prevent anyone from seeing what they want to see. But you know. You do you.”

"Okay." That came a bit relived. But Phil didn't want to let Bozie off the hook this easily.

"I still think that you'll be making a mistake, buddy. You'll be never able to take it back."

"Okay."

"The media is going to eat you alive. They'll say that you came out just to stay in NHL. They'll say that we were fucking, and that I went to the management and demanded that they kept my ass buddy, okay? And now that I'm gone you came out so you could stay. Is that what you really want?"

Phil could hear Bozie's breathing in the other end. Finally he answered, "I'll call you, okay? After."

"Yes. Not any time soon, though. I still think it’s a fucking bad idea."

"Okay."

They ended the call and Phil was left to digest what the hell had just happened. 

 

Phil looked around at the locker room to see if everyone had arrived. He hated this. But Bozie had given Phil a warning, and now Phil, goddamnit, had to give a heads up to his new team. 

“So, hey, everyone!”

Surprisingly, everyone actually stopped talking and listened. 

“Just a warning, it might be that in a couple of days, everyone and their dog will ask you if I’m gay, or if you think I am or if you knew that would be.”

Everyone just kept staring at him, intently, like they’d be waiting for more.

“So, uh. I would appreciate if you wouldn’t say much. Or say whatever, I don’t really care as long as you don’t make shit up. Thanks.”

Phil sat on his booth and tried to change into his Under Armor, but it seemed like Crosby had followed him after his little speech. 

“That was, uh, brave.” 

Phil had to think a second. _Brave?_

“Just you know that we all support you. No matter what the others say- ”

 _Oh._ Phil rose back up. Crosby had to take a step backwards. The dude had actually reached his arm, like he’d wanted to put it on Phil’s shoulder or something.

“And hey one more thing!” And again the guys dropped what they were doing. Phil could get used to this. 

“I’m not gay. Just, if anyone is interested to know that. It’s just... you’ll see in a couple of days, okay? Okay.”

Then Phil sat down and continued suiting up, while his teammates slowly picked up their bearings and followed suit. Crosby stood beside him a moment but then continued his own thing. His captain obviously had had a script for the case of teammates coming out and Phil was almost sorry that Crosby hadn’t had the opportunity to use it.

 

Two days later the news broke, or at least Phil gathered it from the new vigor the media rushed towards him. Well, too bad. He had a fucking permission slip from Mike Johnston so fuck them. 

Phil didn’t read the media about Bozie’s big coming out bomb either, but what he gathered from his teammates’ discussions, the common thread of thought was that Bozie had come out to keep himself on the team. Which was pretty much true, only that no-one seemed to question if he would be even actually gay. 

 

Everything was going relatively fine until after a practice, Olli pushed a mobile in his hands. There was a YouTube video in it, some sports talk show, ready for play.

“I know that you don’t usually watch these, but you should watch this. Okay?”

No-one can say no to Olli, so Phil just took the offered phone and sat down to his booth to watch it. 

Phil watched the video two times, thanked Olli, and continued home. Fuck this. _Fuck Bozie._

 

A couple hours later the call came. 

"So. That happened." Bozie sounded like he wanted to plow through this discussion with bravado and jokes.

Phil was at loss of words, so he didn't say anything.

"Did you watch? Are you there?" It didn’t deed much to turn Bozie’s tone uncertain.

"Yes.”

Now it was Bozie’s turn to keep quiet while Phil gathered his thoughts.

"In that interview, why did you say that you had a crush on me?"

"I don't know. I just did. Because maybe I kinda had?"

"But you weren't gay. Aren't gay," Phil had to correct himself.

"No I wasn't. I made that decision when I started playing hockey seriously. I thought I was totally straight, so I didn't know what I was feeling."

"As you said in the interview." _Wait a minute._ "You mean you actually think that? You weren't lying today?"

"Uh. But I really had feelings towards you, and they asked about it and it got me thinking, maybe it was a crush. I just didn’t realize it then.”

"But it’s not a crush if you just… Hang around more than not, and you drove me around, and picked up my errands sometimes and took care of Stella? That's what friends and roommates do?”

“Uhm. Maybe.”

Just, Jesus Christ. Bozie had been gay for him? And what kind of stupid _decides_ to not be gay and then forgets it later, truly thinking themselves as straight while they wash their best friend’s dog as a Valentine’s gift? Bozie’s kind of stupid, it seemed.

“So, okay, you had a crush. That happened. Congrats on your non-fake gayness, then. You’re thirty, go get some tail.”

“You’re not angry? Or like, disgusted that I was homo around you, even though I didn’t realize it then?”

“Of course not. You’re still my buddy.”

“Okay, good.” Had Bozie really been worried about that? “Just, could you answer me one thing, like honestly? If I’ve come out to you then, when we were in the same team, would you have given me a chance?”

Huh. Maybe Bozie had thought about it then. Maybe he hadn’t been able to lie to himself about his straightness as convincingly as he now seemed to think. 

“Bozie, you know I love you like a bro, right? But I would have turned you down, because I’m straight. And not like you-straight, just regularly straight. Okay?”

“Okay.” Bozie chuckled. “I guess I can live with that. I just wanted to know if I’ve made possibly the biggest fucking mistake, then. But I guess not.”

“Yeah. Just, go be gay hockey player, then. Run free.”

Bozie laughed and ended the call. 

It wasn’t Phil’s thing to be left thinking about feelings and shit, but he guessed that it was healthy to think this out of his system. What would he had done if Bozie would have come to confess his feelings four years ago? Knowing Bozie, Phil downgraded the _confession of feelings_ to _offering a BJ_. That, Phil might not have turned down because he was a guy and an asshole himself. Which would have probably lead to all kinds of trouble because in the romantic love –level, Phil truly was straight.

Maybe this all would eventually end in the winning column, Phil thought. Maybe Bozie would inspire others and maybe a few more would even come out. Phil had a feeling about a couple of guys in his team. Maybe Crosby could end up using his coming out support speech after all.


End file.
